Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat on Saturday visited the forward Air Force bases in Arunachal Pradesh and interacted with troops deployed including those from the secretive Special Frontier Force (SFF).
“CDS, on completion of one year in office, Gen. Bipin Rawat visited the bases in the eastern sector and interacted with the Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the SFF soldiers deployed at the forwardmost air-maintained post in Dibang Valley and Lohit Sector of Arunachal Pradesh,” the Army said in a statement. He complimented the soldiers for the innovative measures adopted to maintain effective surveillance and enhanced operational readiness, the Army said.
Gen. Rawat took over as the first CDS on January 1, 2020.
There has been high alert and massive deployment of troops and equipment along the LAC since the standoff with China in the eastern Ladakh began in early May. The SFF, whose actions have rarely been acknowledged officially, had recently been deployed during the standoff. On the nights of September 29 and 30, the SFF troops were employed to dominate the peaks in Chushul sector on the Indian side of the LAC pre-empting a similar move by China.
